Leveled Readings / Voltaire: Treatise on Toleration (1763)
Voltaire: Treatise on Toleration (1763)
Voltaire, Treatise on Toleration (1763)
These are adaptations, not the original. The original wording is always shown first. Each adapted version restates the same passage at about a grade 4, grade 7, or grade 10 reading level without adding or removing ideas. Quote the original in student writing.
Original wording
“The supposed right of intolerance is absurd and barbaric. It is the right of the tiger; nay, it is far worse, for tigers do but tear in order to have food, while we rend each other for paragraphs.”
Adapted · about grade 4
Voltaire said that the idea that people may punish others for their beliefs is foolish and cruel. Even tigers only fight for food, but people fight over words.
Adapted · about grade 7
The so-called right to be intolerant is foolish and cruel, Voltaire wrote. It is the right of a tiger, or worse, because tigers kill to eat, while people tear each other apart over sentences in books.
Adapted · about grade 10
The supposed right of intolerance is absurd and barbaric. It is the right of the tiger, and even worse, for tigers tear only to get food, while we tear each other apart over paragraphs.